At the 2010 NAB Show, World Teleport Association was co-producer of the Destination Broadband Theater in the Upper South Hall. In 16 panel sessions over three days, we focused on two closely-related topics: delivering and monetizing video content delivered over broadband, and how traditional television distribution is evolving in response to the broadband revolution.  

With over one hundred million households, the United States is currently the largest market in the world for broadband services. About sixty percent, or 60 million households currently access broadband services from various sources, mainly terrestrial. Satellite broadband service reach only one million households, or less than 2 percent of broadband households in the U.S. Clearly, there is a lot more room to expand satellite broadband services in the U.S. market and major operators such as Hughes and Viasat are determined to develop the market to its full potential.  

Africa is a continent of contrasts. Endemic poverty and political malfeasance are the most widely understood characteristics, but the nascent market power of an underdeveloped continent with a population that is expected to exceed 1 billion people for the first time in 2010, is staggering.  

Ernst & Young  released a report on the media and entertainment landscape in the emerging markets of Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC). The report provides an overview of the latest indicators of market attractiveness, as well as the opportunities, challenges and critical success factors in conducting business in these four countries. 

NSR’s annual review of the broadband satellite market shows that, after a year of uncertainty, the majority of signs indicate the sector made it through the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression relatively well. Probably one of the biggest success stories of 2009 was satellite broadband access, where NSR noted that North America set a milestone by becoming the first region to top 1 million subscribers, and Western Europe will likely exceed 100,000 subscribers well before the end of 2010.

The issue of inadequate bandwidth in the world very small aperture terminal (VSAT) market has experienced a conflicting impact: a spurt in service revenues and, simultaneously, a dip in the sales of equipment or hardware. VSAT providers, while pleased with the hike in service revenues, are wary of pricing many potential, cost-sensitive VSAT users out of the market.  

The World Teleport Association announced the release of a new report, What Customers Want. A product of interviews conducted by WTA with senior decision-makers for teleport and satellite customers in the media and entertainment sector, the report explores the thinking process of key buyers in North America and Europe as they are likely to affect their purchases of services and technology from teleport operators and their space segment partners.

Japan is often looked at as the early adopter of all things technology-related, be it the widespread use of laptops, mobile phones or gaming and value-added services. One would expect that the large LED screens found at busy intersections in Tokyo would naturally spill over to LCD and plasma screens at every possible media opportunity – be it a retail store aisle, cinema theatre or fast-food restaurant.

For the first time, satellite reaches more households than cable in Europe, with 77 million satellite and 71 million cable households, according to the annual survey conducted by satellite operator SES. Terrestrial infrastructures reach 86.5 million households; however, not even half of them (48 percent) are digital.

Today, Africa is one of the fastest growing markets for telecommunications and satellite services. The African satellite market is estimated to have grown in the last few years as much as twice more than the global average of 6-7 percent and looks to accelerate that growth in this new decade.  

Just a few years ago, the African continent, home to over a Billion people, was seen as backwater for telecommunications services. Teledensity, a key indicator showing the number of telephones per 100 population were the lowest in the world at less than one percent on average.